Copper Command – vol. 1, no. 9

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Carl Etterer at Creat Falls took this picture

last year of the Christmas

lights at the Refinery

MERRY CHRISTMAS IF this war goes anything like other wars, the boys on both sides will suspend their shooting on Friday, the 25th. They will call a halt to massacre for a couple of shifts and spend a little time meditating on a man who, many years ago, gave up his life in the interest of Peace.

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But we have a hunch that since this war isn't like other wars, the shooting will go on.

We just have a hunch that the Japs would like to have us believe that there will be a suspension of strife, so that while the American fighting men are enjoying a little rest, the Japs can pull another sneak punch. Our wiry little opponents in the Pacific are built that way. They play according to no rules except their own. .

We have reason, this Christmas, to be grateful for material things. But they are not such material things as the purchase of a new car, or a new house, or even a box of cigars.

The material things we should be grateful.for are the tanks and guns and planes that are rolling out from American assembly lines in increasing number. The production peak is by no means in sight, but we are getting ther~.

Funny thing, to be grateful at Christmas time for things that kill people! But this is that kind of Christmas. If today we were in the same production position we were in a year ago, we would have no Christmas this year to celebrate, for it must be clear to anyone that, without the most staggering massing of men and materials in the history of the world, it would not have taken twelve months to overrun the United States and to bring it under Axis domination.

All that poses a question to' us: Isn't Christmas as we used to know it, with its toys and tinsel and good food and good times, worth getting back? Isn't it worth working a little harder for, fighting a little harder .for?

DECEMBER'18.1942

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COPPER COMMANDOIs the official newspaper of the Victory Labor-Manacement Production Committees of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls, Montana. ••• Its aim is to show how the war affects us all and what we can all do to help win it. It designed, too, to get us better aequainted with each other.

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It is run by an Editorial. Board from labor and from management--six Union men and thr~e trom management. Its editor is Bob Newcomb; its associate editor is Marg Sammons; Its safety editor is John L. Boardman; tis cbief photllgrapheris Bob Nesmith; its stall photographer is Les Bishop. Its editorial board consists of Denny McCarthy, CIO; John F. Bird, AFL, and Ed Renonard, ACM Co., Butte; Tom Murray, CIO; Joe Marick, AFL; Bayard Morrow, ACM Co., Anaconda; Jaek Clark, ClO: Herb Donaldson, AFL; E. S. Bardwell, ACMCo., Great Falls.

Editorial offices: 112 Hamilton st., Butte. Come on in with a. pat on the back or a kick in tbe pants. We can take both and like it. Merry Christmas.

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THE SHAFT COES DOWN ..~..••.:.•...•:.••.•.•.•...4

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WHAT

If' WE LOSE? ....•.....••••••..•••••••••..•.... 10

To dig the ore, we must sink the shaft. It is a fascinating business seeing these experts at work down in the ground doing their job so that the miners may go in and dig the are.

Here's a word-picture story of shaft sinking and station-cutting.

Some of us seem to think the war is already won and that we will be calling the whole thing off any day now. But the Japs started fighting the war way back when and they figured it to be a war to the finish. let's not kid ourselves that wars are won so easily.

HUNTINC

THE ORE COMES IN

WITH

THE CAMERA

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Up at Great Falls you don't seem able to turn around without running into a crackerjack athlete. We got busy with the camera a while ago and got some picture interviews with some at the boys who figure that it's smart to be fit.

Ore from B'utte goes to the High line at Anaconda for weighing, and then it is dumped in the car dumper or tipple. Pull up a chair and see how the are is handled when it gets to the Smelter.

FUN WHILE

TAKE NO CHANCES

IT LASTED

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Remember the old days, when we used to hunt and fish and joyride? Some of the growlers feel pretty sore that we can't do these things as much as we used to. But fortunately there are those among us who feel that a tank needs rubber more than a pleasure car, and are will- . ing to make the sacrifice.

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Here's a frank discussion of one phase of mine safety. Rocks in mines are loosened by blasting and by weight. Accidents can be prevented by close observance of precautionary measures. If you want to keep from getting hurt, you've got to be careful; whether you are working in a mine or crossing Tin:es Square.

The ore comes in. An ore train from Butte comes up the grade at Anaconda

3 DECEMBER 18, 1942

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Here you see the engineer on the sinker hoist, John MacDonald, preparing to lower the ~inking cage seen in the next two pictures. Tom Oxley, .

Assistant Foreman, in the center shot, is ringing the shaft bell to descend

to the bottom. Along with him, feft to right, are Ed Springer, Swamper for the shaft crew, Bill Willman. Shaft Boss, and H. M. Courtney of the R~search Department. To right is another view of cage going down

The Shaft Goes Down \

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necessary to sink the shaft because the Butte ore bodies go to deep levels and the men and supplies must be lowered and the ore hoisted. The Butte shafts are sunk vertically in granite. At every 135-foot level a station is cutgoing off of the shaft-and from these stations, crosscuts are driven to the are bodies which are to be mined. As the upper part of the mine is worked out, "it is necessary to go deeper.

To sink deeper it is. necessary to have a small sinking hoist, which can be installed on one of the lower stations, and a sinking cage, for servicing the work in the shaft. The upper pictures on page four will give you an idea of the hoist and cage. The shaft men go to the station where the sinking hoist is located by means of the main cages, and then transfer to the sinking cage fo go on to the bottom. As the rock is excavated by the shaft men, it is sent up to 'the sinking hoist station in a car on the sinking cage.

The shafts are timbered, one compartment wide and usuatly five compartments long. Two of these compartments are used for the main cages. which hoist in counter-balanceAlthough you would..'t recogniz-e the .... in the picture to the left, these two men clrillinr in the bottom of the shaft are Jet Ward, left, and Claude Crabtree. right. Note wooden plugs which made the drilled t.oIes. Next

the empty skip going down will help to hoist the loaded skip going up. One or two of the other compartments are used for auxiliary service cages and the other for a manway, pipes, cables, pump column and ventilation. Shoes of the cage follow the guides (wooden runners) and prevent the cages from travelling out of line.

Drilling is done with jackhammers which are .air-driven drills used for drilling "down" holes. That's jackhammer drilling in the lower pictures on page four. The hoses attached to the drills come from manifolds at the ends of the air pipe lines. The holes are all drilled downward to outline the shape of the shaft. The center holes point towards each other forming a "V" (known as a cut). This cut is the first part broken out by the blast. The holes are started with a large-size bit and collared for a short distance. You can see a picture of this in the lower right on page four. A short piece of twoinch pipe is put in the collared hole and the hole is drilled out through this casing pipe.

The blasting primers are made by inserting an electric delay (blasting) cap in a stick of powder. In the upper left

Jet Ward pulling steel frotn the holes. Claude Crabtree is h~lcIing jackhammer and Tom Oxley is "sising it up." That's John Boes i. picture to right with jackhammer on his knee. He's changing steel. you see

4 DECEMBER 18, 1942

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Left to right are Jet Ward. John Boes and Claude Crabtree preparing primers for blasting the round in the shaft. Ea~h hole in the carriers containing the made-up primers represents the corresponding hole in the picture on page five is a shot of this work being done on the station, The delay cap is numbered according to the time it is to explode. and is placed in proper position in the wooden box having holes to correspond to the round of holes drilled.

After the drilling is finished. the equipment is taken up and the powder and primers sent down. The round of holes is loaded as in the primer box. Thus. in blasting. the cuts make the break and the final holes heave the rock away from the compartment of the sinking cage. After the round is loaded, the wires from the delays are connected to a fiddle. (A fiddle is two parallel wires running lengthwise of the shaft') A wire runs from each delay to each of the two fiddle wires. When the delays are connected, the men connect the main blasting wire to the two fiddle wires and go to the blasting station and throwin a switch-and the round is blasted electrically.

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After the blast. the miners turn on the fans; blow the smoke out; and then descend. A shaft bell is used to control the cage at all times. In the upper middle picture on page five is a shaft bell rope which connects with the shaft bell.

Instead timber after to make the right picture

of mucking out the round first, the men may the blast. To timber, they bar down the sides timbering area safe. Take a look at the upper on page five and you'll see John Boes barring

down on the 3800 station. The blasting platform is then lowered to about seven feet below the last set. It is floored with the lagging which will later be used for the sides 'of the set.

When the staging is completed, the wall and end plates (terms given the timbers which form the sides and ends) are lowered. Shaft timbering differs from other timbering in that it is suspended from above instead of being built from below.

When the set is well blocked. it is just as solid as though' it were built from below.

After the timbering is finished. the rock must be mucked out, The miners work from the top of the muck pile to bar down and make the bottom 'safe for mucking. They start mucking on the cage side first. The muck is shovelled into a pan called a submarine which is hoisted by a small air hoist and tilted into a car on the sinking cage. When the hole is sunk down as far as practical. thin iron sheets are laid in the low spot and the rock is raked onto these sheets. From these sheets, the rock is mucked into the submartnes. The men keep working the edge of the sheet into the pile and mucking from it until most of the rock is cleaned up. The upper picture on the next page will give you an idea of the mucking operation. The final step is to clean up the bottom of the shaft and prepare to drill another round of holes.

Our photographer, Bob Nesmith, caught these "besses" just as they were going off duty. To the left is Tom Oxley, Assistant Foreman of the Leonard Mine, in charge of shaft work. The man with the big smile in the

DECEMBER 18, 1942

shaft bottom. Center picture shows a car of shaft rock dumped into the skip with Delbert Folden ringing shaft bell and Mike Skubits, the other station tender. To the right is John aoes baning down on the station

center is Hale Strock, Foreman of all operations at the Leonard Mine. 'udging by the smile. it must have been a good day. At right is Bill Willman, a Shaft Boss at the Leonard, who was in charge of the crew

In the picture above a new level is being started.

In the foreground you see John Boes and in the rear Bob Seadin mucking out a round which has been blasted on the 3800 station. The muck is shovelled into a

car on the station and run onto the sinking cage which takes it up to be dumped into the waste skip. In the picture below the shift bosses at the Leonard Mine are making up their books during lunch hour.

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6 DECEMBER 18. 1942

HUNTING WITH THE CAMERA IT SEEMS that nearly everywhere you go in Creat Falls you come across an athlete.

The Reduction Works fairly teams with experts in any line of sports endeavor we can think of, along with some we probably can't.

Some of the older men are not as active as they used to be, but they have a lot to look back upon.

Take Harry Egan, for example.

That's Harry in the picture at the upper left talking to Jack Havelick-both of them are at the Electrolytic Copper Refinery.

Harry played semi-pro baseball for 23 years, which is something of a record.

He still Iikes to golf and bowl.

Harry has beenat Great Falls for fourteen years, working in various departments.

Jack Havelick, shown with Harry, came to Creat Falls in 1897-for the last thirty years he has been foreman and wants to c:ontinue until we lic:k the Japs. Jack is a sportsman too-he used to be one of the greatest hunters and fisherman in the section, but he doesn't do much of it any more.

In the picture at the right above is August Tuss, known as Gus. Gus. who has been here for 20 years, J,as worked at various jobs and is now It craneman at the ECR. Swinging hundreds of pounds of anodes and cathodes around has given Cus a great eye for putting those black balls straight down the bowling alleys-he is one of the top-notch bowlers at the Falls.

Funny thing about it is that Cus' son, Walter, is a top-,notcher, too; Cut will tell you that Walter is even a better bowler than he is. However you look at it, all the folks at Creat Falls interested in bowling make a fuss over Tuss.

At the left, below, is Eddie Kralich, a stripper in the Cadmium Plan' Eddie is the Falls' crack golfer.

He takes the Smelter Hill course in pac, and does almost as well on any other course he finds.

He likes all other sports, too, but golf is his extra-special preference.

Eddie confesses he doesn't like to work at home and says "That's the reason I have a wife."

Eddie has two swell little girls, aged seven and five.

Most everybody knows Jimmie Walsh, who is a weigh_master at fli.

Cadmium Plant-he weighs the finished metal to ship before being boxed. limmie is coach at St. Mary's High School, as most people know.

Sin'ce 1926 he has been coach~ng; for the last two years his teams won the cha .... pionship for Class B, and hopes to repeat this year. Jimmie coaches every evening from three to five-when he was in high school he played baske .... ball, football and baseball, and was rated outstanding in all three.

He has always been interested in athletics.

Jimmie's boy, who is twelve, is already training for athletics and is always on hand to watch his Dad coach.

Wei" Jimmie, !f the kid grows up to be as good as his Old Man, he will be all righ~

7 DECEMBER

18, 1942

Fun

While It Lasted W E know a guy who is taking the war pretty hard. fn the first place, he thought there was no reason why this country should interfere in ~ war which, according to him; had no concern with us. He thought it would be a good idea if all the other countries of the world would fall to fighting among themselves and kiII one another off. He told us, one time, that if we just minded our own business, no other country would ever bother us. After all, he said, we were the biggest country in the world and the wealthiest, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

All that was before Pearl Harbor. When the Japs attacked us a little over a year ago, this friend of ours was the first to denounce the act. He was all for grabbing a gun, hurrying to Tokio, to wipe the yellow so-and-so's off the map He clamored for immediate action. Had he been the head of the government, he probably would have wiped out the Japs singlehanded in a few days.

This fellow has done a lot of talking ever since, and little else. He fights the war from an easy chair. He rages when he is asked to give up his pleasures and comforts. When rationing came along, he had already figured out ways and means to chisel. When it appeared likely that the draft might take him, he engineered a w,ay out of it. He buys no War Bonds to speak of because he says that, with the risir.lgcost of living, he needs every cent he gets to provide for the necessities of life. We don't know yet whether he has worked out some plan to get increased mileage out of his car, whether he will be able fo arrange for extra tires or extra gasoline, whether he has any means devised whereby to get sugar and coffee he isn't entitled to. All we do know is that he has probably tried.

Fortunately. very fortunately, we know other guys. We know a fellow who. for a number of years past counting, has looked forward to his fishing trips many miles away. We. have fished with him, and often put our feet under his table to enjoy the fish we have caught together. He likes to hunt, and he loves the outdoors. Many is the time we have whacked up some venison after a few days' hunting, ar:d when the crispness got into the air at the end of the summer, we always looked forward to a trip together.

But this particular guy is not a griper.

"It ~as fun while it lasted," was his way of putting it.

"For more years than I can remember. I have enjoyed the pleasures this country has provided. I have hunted and fished and camped; I have gone on long rides with my family; I have taken every chance that life offered me to enjoy the things this country has offered-most of them free things, in that they have cost me nothing but the liking for them.

"Now we are asked," he goes on, "to make some sacrifices in order to keep the things we like to have and do. I guess if a son of mine can live through the blood and sweat of the Solomons, never knowing whether the next minute will

8 DECEMBER 18, 1942

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be his last or not, I can give up a few things too. I don't HAVE to go fishing in order to remain content with life; I guess I can put my rifle aw~y and not waste tires or rubber or gasoline or bullets for the sport of hunting. Nobody likes to fish more than I do, but it tak-es rubber to get me to the places . where the fish are, and the government needs rubber badly. I have an idea that the fish will keep--what we must preserve now is the right to go fishing again.

"I have always enjoyed those rides through the mountains with my wife and kids in the old family car," he finally remarked. "We have enjoyed so much hopping in the car after the dishes were cleared away and riding for several miles into the mountains. But the mountains were here before I was and I have an idea they will be here after I am gone. If I want to see them again and have my conscience clear while I'm doing it, I think I ought to be willing now to give up what somebody else needs. That somebody else is the fellow who has shouldered a rifle FOR ME. He needs what I've got to give him, and by God, he's going to have it."

Most of the folks we know are willing to tighten their belts; not only because our country asks it of us, but because most of us are trying, in however small a way, to do our share to win this war. If we don't win it, there will be no pleasures left. We will operate under a rationing system then the like of which we have never seen before. We will be slaves of a. system we now have a chance to lick, provided we are willing to fight to lick it. Here and there among us is the discontented fellow who believes that freedom is bought merely by wishing for it. Here and there among us is the fellow who feels that wars are won without bloodshed and sacrifice. Here and there we find a man who still refuses to believe that the plan for this war was hatched by the Axis when many of us were children, and that every

plan from that day to this has been aimed at wiping us Americans off the face of the earth without consideration and without mercy.

This is not a take-it-or-leave-It war. This is not one of those games where you say "I don't feel like playing today.-I'd rather sit and watch."

This is not a war of temperaments where the player who doesn't like the game can pick up his marbles and go home.

This is the REAL THING. We either fight for what we have or lose the chance ever to get it back. When the leaders of this army of ours tell us that many of the materials of war cannot be moved without rubber, let's not listen to the curbstone captains who assert that normal rubber production is just around the corner. It ISN'T around the corner. When the leaders of our military forces tell us that gasoline restrictions are necessary in order to reduce the use of rubber for pleasure purposes, or to eliminate it entirely, let's not pretend that we have a better answer. There is no better answerthat's the only answer. The reason rubber rationing is. enforced upon us is because too few of us are willing to give up the peacetime pleasures of needless driving-those of us who have been willing all along to make personal sacrifices are now compelled to pay the penalty for those who have been willing to make no sacrifices at all.

The same thing goes for shortages of food. Food MUST be rationed. simply because we have a vast army to feed and many fighting allies to look after so that the war may be carried on. The sugar we don't use and the coffee we don't drink go to ease the lot of men on the Allied firing line the world over. That calls for damned little sacrifice on our part. let's say to ourselves: So long, Yesterday; hello, Tomorrow! let's say to ourselves: It Was Fun While It Lasted-lET'S EARN THE RIGHT TO HAVE THAT FUN AGAIN!

9 DECEMBER 18, 1942

Vol. I

· December 18,1942

No.9 •

"Meet

m1l wife

a12(l daughte'r-oi'

vice-versa."

Draiar; for Office of War Intormauon

What If We Lose?

READERS WRITE Okays Family Page

ON E of the

boys was t~king a rap at us the other day for the article in our last issue called "What If We Lose?"

"What are you talking about losing for?" he asked us.

"Aren't we winning in the Solomons? Haven't we established ourselves in North Africa? Aren't the British pounding the Italians, and aren't the Russians backing the Axis back? Stop talking about losing when we're winning." .

Well, a little good news is bad for to their heads.

Too many of us have hours till the war is won, figuring that there is left to do now is to tidy up the

some people. It goes started counting the it's in the bag and all battlefields.

I think you will find a lot of us women readers of the COMMANDO interested in a family page, such as Shirley McKinnon suggested a couple of' issues ago. We are interested in what our husbands do, of course, and mqny of us learn something every time the newspaper comes out. But a place in which we wives can exchange recipes, household hints and other ideas will make the paper even more interesting, and I think the ladies would all be very glad to help. Call on us.

MRS. JIM BYRN E, Butte.

Thanks, Mrs. Byrne; it was swell of you to write.

What we want naturally, is to get everybody in this great effort to win the war, and the we all know each other, the greater the effort we are all going to make it -. We are working on Shirley McKinnon's suggestion and we'll have thi"g soon.

to do, better to win some-

Feeling Better, Thanks The Japanese started figuring out this war way back when a lot of us were wearing short pants. The whole Japanese nation has geared itself to knocking us out. We started figuring out this war along about December 7 last year, and a lot of cheerful Willies haven't grown any smarter since.

This is a war to the finish.

One bombing of Tokyo doesn't mean a finish, or random bombings of enemy towns, or a standoff battle in the Solomons. This is what the finish means and nothing else: To smash completely and for all time the military machine of the Axis, to strip its dictators of power and hang 'em if we can get hold of 'em, to release from slavery the millions of starving people whose countries the Axis has taken over, to set up a foolproof system so that Hitlers never rise again.

To our friend and critic: Don't whistle so soon, chum, nor so loud. Stick to your job-we've got a hell of a big job yet to do. When the time comes, we'll all be in on the cheering.

I'm out of the hospital only a short time, and want you to know how nice it was to get COPPER COMMANDO delivered to me while I was laid up.

It kind of kept me in touch with things while I was sick.

Everyone wants to do what he can to help win this war, and once we understand that we are pulling together, through knowing each other better.

I feel sure we can do it .... Incidentally, how's for seeing that a guy who gets hospitalized receives his copy of COPPER COMMANDO. J. S., Great Falls.

A good idea, and we wish we had thought of it. We do deliver hospitals whenever we check on a fellow who's on the sick list. try to do a better job of it from now on.

copies to But we'll

Slogan Suggested The other day I thought of a suggestion for a slogan for buying War Bonds and Stamps. Here it is: "When you buy a War Bond. you buy a share of stock in the United States."

If you like it, you can use it.

TIE LEE, Anaconda.

We like it and we used it. It's on page sixteen give Tie a War Bond for thinking of it.

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in this issue, and we ought to

10 DECEMBER 18, 1942

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The Ore CO,lDes In Yes sir, and as soon as it arrives from Butte it starts on the long but interesting

route

that results in copper. We climbed up to the High Line to get this story of what happens

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to the ore when it finally gets to Anaconda

This is a view of some of the ore cars from Butte, waiting beyond the tipple at Anaconda. They will be released one by one and the ore dumped into the chute

A SCHOOLBOY learns at an early age that copper doesn't exist in th~ ground as a metal. He may forget it as he grows older, but those of us in this industry keep it in mind.

Not all of us, however. realize the vast number of steps through which' the are must go in order to reach the stage of the finished product. One thing we do know is that the ore, as provided by nature, serves no useful purpose of man until man himself converts it.

In the series of articles we are now starting to publish on operations in Butte, we are learning from issue to issue what steps are involved in getting the ore itself out of the ground. In anearlier issue we showed you pictures of the ore being received on what is called the "High Line" at Anaconda, after its trip from Butte. You may remember the pictures of the ore cars and of Bill Bowling delivering the cars into the car dumper or "tipple." A more complete description of how this operation is done will probably be interesting to lots of people, particularly those in Butte who would like to know exactly what happens to the ore after it leaves the mine.

Here are two shots of Fred Anderson in the Scale House on the High Line at Anaconda. Fred can see the cars through the window, and as they pass

This ore from Butte goes to Anaconda in railroad cars and is delivered on the High Line over the B. A. & P. railway in trains of 26 cars.

If you will turn to page 3, you will see one of these are trains making the long ascent to the High Line with a string of loaded cars. Next the train must climb many hundred feet from the track level to the HigH Line; the train covers about eight miles after it reaches the smelter before it gets to the top of the hill where the cars are weighed and dumped.

The first thing which must be done after the cars reach the High Line, is to have them weighed. The cars are hauled up past the Scale House and. then released, one by one; they pass slowly in front of the Scale House and each car is weighed automatically as it passes. The cars are braked on the down grade, then reassembled and brought back up the hill to be dumped.

Over at the right we see a number of are cars outside the tipplethese cars have already been weighed and are ready to be dumped.

In the pictures below, we see Fred Anderson weighing in the cars. He is supplied with the car number of each car before it moves on to the scales.

across the scales outside, Fred makes a record of the car's weight, using the machine before which he is seated, and checks the number of the cars

II DECEMBER 18. 1942

On this page are views of a car heing weighed. of the tipple or car dumper, and of corraded ore being moved down out of the pit. That is a shot of an ore car at the upper left--fred Anderson sits at the weighing machine in the house at the right. Next two pictures above are of the tipple, first without a car in it ,and second with a car turned nearly upside down. Study the picture and you will see how the tipple works-the tracks simply are reo volved underneath the car, and the whole car is turned over. Below is 2 picture of the pit being cleaned out-that's AI Powdrill you see in the pit

and the amount of the load is registered by the automatic machine you see in the picture, This weight is recorded on a card which punches the weight very much in the manner of a time clock. In this wayan accurate record is kept of the weight of each car, so the mine from which the ore has come can be credited with its proper production.

After the cars have been weighed, they are delivered to two tracks ahead of the tipple. This delivery is made several times each day, since the object is to keep cars on the tipple tracks as continuously as possible.

As we explained to you in an earlier 'issue, this trick of dumping 'cars is really something to see, The cars are dumped one at a time by what is known as a Wellman Seaver car dumper. Each car is pushed under the car dumper by a 25-ton electric locomotive. This locomotive runs on a track between the two tracks of ore Cars, The locomotive doesn't push the car directly on to the tipple-a long-arm operated by compressed air and controlled by the motorman in the locomotive cab engages the frame of the car in one corner; in this way the locomotive can push the car on to the tipple and disengage the arm when needed, The motorman in the cab must be very careful to "spot" the car at the right place in the tipple-he is aided by a brakeman who clamps on the brakes at the right point-otherwise the jaws or clamps that grip the car and hold it when the car is turned over will not be able to catch properly.

Once the car is spotted, the clamps grip the car, At the right side of the tipple is a tower in which the electrical controller and the man operating the tipple are stationed-the operator is called a "tipple-hopper." When the operator closes the switch, three heavy steel clamps automatically close on top of the car frame and lock it tight to the rails, The tipple then revolves until the car is turned over far enough to allow the ore to run out and dis• charge over an apron into a large pit below the tipple, A car can be com-, pletely dumped and returned to its upright position in one minute. But the boys at the tipple will tell you that many times it isn't possible to do this; wet or frozen ore cannot be dumped rapidly without causing a lot of trouble, That's the reason the operator in the tipple tower governs the speed at which cars are dumped, according to his judgment of what's best, The operator can see the contents of the car clearly from his post, and can tell ~bout how fast the car can be safely dumped, These boys have an uncanny Judgment and our hats are certainly off to them for their skill.

In the bottom of the pit there is a large rectangular opening into which the ore falls, It drops of its own weight through a chute to an apron feeder, and the ore is moved from there to the first crusher-we want to tell you about crushing in a later issue.

On this page, we see a picture of the Scale House, first with a car passing across the scales, We also see two views of the tipple--one looking through to the cars beyond and another picture showing a car actually turned upside down. (Our photographer, Bob' Nesmith, told us he couldn't get this picture a few months ago, but the thing kept bothering him, so this time he went back and got it.) The pit must be cleaned down from time to time because some of the contents of the cars is bound to cling to the sides, This is called "blowing down" and we show a picture at the left of this job being done.

A tot of credit goes to the B, A, & P. boys for their splendid work on the High Line, These boys strike us as being experts in the railway business, because this cardumping and weighing calls for a lot of railroading skill, The tipple itself has helped production a great deal, because in the old days, the cars were emptied from chutes in the bottom, and when the ore froze or became wet, it was really a tough job knocking the stuff loose. It used to take a good many hours for some of the ore to thaw out to the point where the cars could be emptied, and this actually slowed everything down, Even today, of course, it is not a simple matter to empty cars with frozen ore by the tipple method. but the boys have most of the answers and no matter how tough the problem is, they always seem able to lick it.

12

--

DECEMBER 18, 1942

Take No Chan~es If you value your neck, you've just got to be careful, whether you're working in a mine or clambering out of the bath tub. Here are a few suggestions to help.you to keep cautious

I~ IS true that, when- a man is working on the 4,OOO-f~t level of a Butte mine, he has nearly a million and a half pounds

~

of weight per square-foot of area over his head. But the fact is that the amount of effective weight over the miner's head may be no more than, or perhaps not as much, at a depth of 4,000 feet, as it is at a depth of 100 feet. It all depends upon whether the ground is short and "ravelly" like sand, or strong and massive like the granites and most other igneous rocks.

In any case, the ground above an excavation will eventually form an arch beyond which it will not fall. Mine timber need be strong enough only to support the weight of the ground created by the limits of this arching distance. .

We know that, when we make the statement that rocks never fall suddenly, we will be laughed at by many miners.

We can imagine someone saying "Oh, yeah? I wish you had been under the one that bumped ME on the coco yesterday!"

But it is a fact nevertheless. It is a fact that a loose rock may move for a matter of several minutes or even hours or days, before it actually falls. The length of time required for a rock to fall after it becomes loose depends upon the amount of frictional resistance and the direct support or weight-bearing capacity of material under it. For instance, if a rock is loose along a talc seam, the stickiness of the talc will hold it up for a time, just as wet glue will hold two objects together.

Thus it will be seen that, when a rock has been loosened by a blast of powder or by its weight, it must overcome these resistances before it can fall. At first, when the rock begins to move, it breaks or crushes a few small grains of the supporting material, or the frictional resistance is broken a little at a time, just as it is in pulling apart two objects which are stuck together by glue. We have already shown that mine timber need be only strong enough to support the weight of the rock which is within the arching distance above the excavation.

We now see that it should also be set in such a manner that it will give a warning the instant the rock begins to move. , This is because the beginning of the movement is so slow and gentle that we cannot see it, and it is so quiet that we cannot hear it. But if the timber is properly set against the loose rock, it will not only slow down the rate of the movement, but it will also, by its popping and cracking sounds, render the movement audible to the miner and give him time to either get out of the way or put ir:t more supporting timber. The accompanying pictures will illustrate the points made.

In both coal and metal mines of this country, for the past fifty years there have been about one thousand fatal injuries per year, due to falling rocks and coal. In addition to these fatalities, there have been about thirty thousand other lost-time injuries per year from this cause. It is thus the greatest single cause of lost-time injuries in all mines. From long experience, we have come to believe that ninety per cent of all these accidents can be prevented by close observation of the following rules: 1. Take down all loose rocks that it is possible to get Clownbefore going under them to work.

2. Set timber under all loose rocks which cannot be taken down, and do it now! Don't wait in the belief that the loose rock will stay up until you get something else done, for it seldom does.

3. When setting timber, whether it be regular sets, stulls, stringers or cribbing, block it against the loose rock with tightly-driven wedges so that the timber will begin to cracl( and make a noise the instant the loose rock begins to move.

4. Avoid over-charging of blasts, and keep drill holes pointed in such a way as to m.ake clean breakage.

5. Do not carry backs higher than can be conveniently reached by the pinch bar, and when an accidental overbreak occurs, timber it at once before removing the resulting muck pile.

Here is the ravelly type of ground or perhaps you know it as short ground. One of its characteristics is that it will shape in a high, pointed arch like you see in this picture

.1"

"

_

",,100,

'

~

"t'

This picture shows the strong and massive type--like the granites and other igneous rocks. Unlike the ravelly type, it forms a flat arch-with nothing pointed about it

If stulls are set with good headboards like these, the ground will be held. If there is any movement there will be plenty of warning from the popping and cracking COPPER

13 DECEMBER 18. 1942

f~~

Here are some other safety pictures to show the way it should be done.

The top picture shows cribbing tcy the back in case of overbreak. This lerves to support loose rocks, and gives a definite warning of rock movement. In the middle picture, stringers, well lagged and blocked down, are extended out over the stope timber. This not only holds the loose rock, .ut it also gives that needed warning beforehand.

Drift timber should be let with tightly-driven butt and back blocks as in the bottom picture. :rhey'U s~pport the loose back and sides and give the needed warning

.. ~ounJJnq () If .

.,

New York City, December 14.

Explanation YOUR editor was chinning witli some of the men from the ,Editorial Board the other day. ·'I'd like to write a department for each issue of COPPER COM. MANDO," I said.

"Some of the stuff that happens seems to be pretty interesting, and I sort of figure other people- would .ike to, read it."

The group thought it over for a minute, and then John Bird, the AFL representative from Butte, said: "Okay, go ahead.

Try a couple of them. If the stulf is no good, we'll throw it out."

Tom Murray, who represents the CIO from Anaconda, butted in.

"If it's a. bad ai I think it's going to be, we'll throw YOU out."

Some start, eh folks?

Back and Forth THIS editing job requires that I do a sort of five-way shuttle, which involves being at various times in Butte Anaconda and Creat Falls, , ' and at other times, in Washington and New York.

The change from West to East is a big one, believe me. We've had gas rationing baek here for months; a lot of us decided there just wasn't any sense owning a car any longer.

But back East you can usually get where you want by bus or train or 5ubway. Only the fellow who must travel long distances from an out-ofthe-way place is really ·up against it~ The atmosphere of war is greater here on the coast, too, because you get reminders o,f it all the time.

For example, the streets are almost dangerously dark at nightanybody who wants to see Broadway for the first time should wait a while, because the section is dimmed down almost to the point of blackness.

The cars operate with dim lights-so dim that you have to be careful not to be hit at night crossing the street.

There have been many such accidents in the past few months.

The grimmest reminder we have around here is still probably the "Normandie," wallowing on her side in the Hudson.

Her superstructure is long since stripped off, of course, but you can still appreciate her long, graceful lines.

I remember her when she tooted her way up the river at the end of her maiden voyage. and half the town turned out

,

i\

to wave a welcome to this visitor from France-the France that seems once again to have rejoined her Allies.

War Stuff WE went up to Ansonia, Conn., the other day, and just before we pulled into the railroad station, I looked out the window and saw the Ansonia plant of the American Brass Co. And on a siding were several cars of wire bars. had a sudden yearning to have a lot of the boys from Creat Falls along, so they could see the copp,r they had worked on. Here it was, hundreds of miles away from Creat Falls, ready to go to work for the United States.

It's not easy to imagine th'e shapes that copper finally takes if you're digging the ore out of the ground. The boys at Anaconda too are far away from the finished product. Here and there at Creat Falls they get a little closer to it, but not close enough.

It would be a great help if all of you could visit the production plants where the finished materials of war are coming out, , nearly all of them depending heavily on copper to see them through.

But I learned even a better lesson a few evenings ago when I was talking to a wounded soldier, back in this country to get in ,hape again.

After I told him about my work, in reply to his query, he said: "I've got a message for the boys out there.

My business is shooting bullets, and if they don't give me the stuff bullets are made of. I can't'shoot 'em."

Ideas Wanted WHEN this newspaper was started. we all decided that we would operate on the policy that the "latchstring is always out."

We're glad it was done this way, because people ~re constantly dropping into the office to get acquainted. ,

You do the same.

We get a slant on what interests you when you drop in-besides that, we'd like to know you and have you know us.

In our office you'll find the writerif he isn't off getting a story with Bob Nesmith, Marg Sammons (who is our associate editor) and Margaret Hocking, who is really the one who keeps the wheels in our office turning.

So come on in-' -we'll be glad to see you.

BOB NEWCOMB

• i;S-'1

14 DECEMBER 18, 1942

~ubber's

Mighty

Slr.ce then, the situation has become more acute, not less. Since then, OUr military requirements for rubber have become greater, not smaller.

Since then many tons of precious rubber have been lost through driving, not essential to the war effort.

We must keep every pound we can on cur wheels to maintain our wartime tran~portation system.

Scarce

Want to take a joy-ride tonight?

It's a little nippyout, but a spin will make us feel better.

A spin would make. our soldiers feel better, teo, but the kind of spin they're taking is on foot, over rough roads or through jungles; or a spin through the ai r on the way down, after an Axis bullet has caught them squarely.

Or a spin in a tank, with the fellows inside not knowing whether that spin will be their last or not.

We must do everything within our power to see that the program starts December 1, because victory must not be delaved throueh failure to support our fighting forces.

A .bomber eats up rubber en a take-off or a landing. and a bomber tire takes a lot of rubber.

A tank needs plenty of rubber to make sure its treads take hold. A mechanized force for the most part moves on rubber.

The fellows who drive planes and tanks and armored cars don't go for joy-rides.

Their rides are strictly business.

Is It All Over?

This should have gone on page two, folks, with a picture of Admiral Ernest [oseph Kin«, Commander-inChief of the U. S. Flp.et and Chief of Naval Operations.

Because a lot of us are tovina with the notion, as we said in our editorial. that the war is already won and that we'll all have cars and rubber and gas in time to go fishin~ next Summer.

We didn't get the Admiral's message in time, or it WOULD have gone on page two.

Some of us don't seem to realize why gasoline is rationed.

That should be easy to understand.

It's chiefly to save rubber: The men who are running this war are stymied by too many people who say: "Shucks, let's take a drive over to Jim and Judy's-it won't take much gas."

Well, it takes gas and it takes rubber, too, and thanks to a lot of people willing to throw both away, we've got rationing.

Because we don't have rubber in anywhere near enough. quantities, we've got to conserve what we have.

Not so long ago the Admiral said: "It's r;oing to be a long war.

W~ will really hit our stride in about a year's time.

Our two-ocean Navy is not yet in service.

The smaller ships witl begin to come into service around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

THE PLAIN FACT IS WE HAVEN'T THE TOOLS. Some of our critics would have us do everything evervwhere all at once.

IT CAN'T BE DONE WITH WHAT WE HAVE TO WORK WITH."

I

When Rubber Administrator Jeffers (one of our Western boys, by the way) took over, here is what President Roosevelt said in part: "Following submission of the Baruch rubber report to me in September, I asked that mileage rationingbe extended throughout the Nation.

Certain printing and transportation problems made it necessary to delay the program until December 1.

The big letters are ours, folks, but that's what the Admiral said.

We just put the emphasis where we think it belongs.

Let's paste the Admiral's views in the bands of our hats, where we can look at 'em when the club-chair corporals start telling us how the war should be run. Let's take them out and read them over when the theory brigade starts opening up its verbal assault.

"With every day that passes, our need for this rubber conservation measure grows more acute.

It is the Army's need and the Navy's need.

They must have rubber.

We, as civilians, must conserve our tires."

The only way this war can be won is by having everyone dig in, man and woman and child.

If Admiral King's boys need the tools, and they sure as hell do, let's see that they get them, and let's waste no more time listening to the fellows who contend that the Axis is dead and ready to be buried.

Those Axis birds don't die that easily.

The Baruch committee said: "We find the existing situation to be so dangerous that unless corrective measures are taken immediately, this country will face both a military and civilian collapse ... in rubber we are a HAVE NOT Nation,"

Mr. and Mrs. <9ET-lOGE~cR.. AtmE 0fFtee..

WERE::. MAK.(~(§

Me=W Y€ArVs

Report

Excerpts from the report of the Rubber Survey Committee headed by Bernard M. "Baruch: It must be kept in mind that we are not restricting the use of gasol;ne as such; we are r"ti,oning, gasoline as the only effective mea~ure to hold down tire use. To make the restriction other than Nationwide would be unfair.

Each time a motorist turns a wheel in unnecessary driving, he must realize that it is a turn of the wheel against our soldiers and in favor of Hitler.

When it comes to rubber, we are a "have not" nation.

If we are to err, i~ must be on the side of sterner curtailment and conservation to anticipate the worst dangers that the war "!ay bring.

Our analysis shows that even with optimistic estimates of the total· quantities of new crude and synthetic rubber that will be available the amounts that can possibly be spared for civilian passenger 'cars will be sufficient for a recapping and tire replacement program only provided that strict conservation measures are instituted at once.

Therefore,

we recommend:

That no speed above 35 miles an hour be permitted for passenger cars and trucks.

(In this way the life of tires will be prolonged by nearly 40 per cent.]

That -,the annual average per car now estimated as 6,700 miles be held down to 5,000, a reduction of 25 per cent.

(This does not mean thit"each has a right to 5,000 miles a year; it applies to necessary driving.> That a new rationing system of gasoline be devised, based on this 5,000 miles a year to save tires.

That the restriction as to gasoline and m.ileage be national in their application.

'That inspection

compulsory periodic be instituted.

l

AM.

tite

Sailors Return As a result of the recent campaign by the Recruiting and Manning Organization of the War Shipping Administration to induce men with former maritime experience to return to sea to man the fast-grow-

How About You?

, K~OW 1M LATE. IMPORlA.~T

WE.

Rubber

The Maritime Commission has announced its approval of 24 Liberty ship names submitted by the nation's school children in connection with the recent schoel salvage earnpaign.

Names submitted by pupils in other states, and state winners, who will participate in launchings to be held at nine shipyards, will be announced shortly by the WPB and the Office of Education.

These launchings begin this month and continue until February.

PEARL HARBOR REMEMBERSThe workers at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard sent a unique check for $70,000 to President Roosevelt recently.

It was their pay for working' last Labor Day, and the check, drawn on the Bank of Hawaii, is writtenon a fragment of a Jap plane which was shot down in the December 7 raid.

The President turned it over to the Treasury to help finance the war.

The Army-Navy "E" Producti6n Award was presented to the Yard on Labor Day, nine months after the Jap raid.

"Save a shovelful of coal a day" was urged recently' by Luther. Harr, United States Bituminous Coal Gonsumers' Counsel, as the winter rule in every American heme uslng coal for heating purposes.

The obsolete smokestack Milwaukee's city hall will make . tons of steel scrap. o

0

of

35

0

A general and a colonel were walking down the street. They met many privates, and each time the colonel would salute, he would mutter, "The same to you."

The general's curiosity was soon aroused, and he asked, "Why do you always say that when you salute a private?"

The colonel answered, "I was once a private, and I know what they are thinking!"

E.VEIi!.Y

\ I /

RE~OLU110N~

Kids Name Ships

By Arthur Folwell and EDison Hoovee

~ER_I ous. ~E:I2.t=.S OUR.. R~OLUlTO'"

OUR-

ing American Merchant Marine, more than 16,000 merchant seamen and engineers have volunteered to join the Victory Fleet.

MEMge:~

OF OUIZ.

PAYI2.0u...

SA'VtW6S'

PLAN ~E.SOlVes

10

TOP THAI

'0°[0

By

NEW This is a contribution

.

to Victory by Arthur Folwell and Ellison Hoover=-Courtesy

u. S.

15 DECEMBER 18, 1942

Treasury DCPllr'"u",.

New York Herald Tribune Syndicate

.

"

MONEY

IN .

.

THE路 BANK TH ERE are not many shopping Clays left till Christmas.

While the reports indicate that this is going to be a banner shopping year in this country, it's already pretty cI,ear that a lot of the money being spent is going' into War Bonds and Stamps.

Here's a little girl who is getting as fine a present as anyone could hope for. Cranted, she can't play with it or eat it or dress it in doll's clothes, but it is an investment in her future, and she is one of the people in this vast country of ours for whom the United Nations are fighting.

BUY

,

Bonds and Stamps are money in the bank. They are the best investment a person today can possibly make. They involve no risk to the buyer, and they earn a profit for him. When you give Bonds or Stamps to a friend or to someone in your family, you say in effect: "Here's a share of stock in the United States. Put it away, and when it is ready to be cashed, buy yourself something you want.

'Don't buy it now because the country needs this money. Some day I know it will buy for you a greater measure of happiness-hold on to it."

Only a few days left to do your Christmas shopping!

Only a few days left in wh ich to give someone you care for so met hi n g worth while! Get路 the idea?

16 DECEMBER 18, 1942